Damon & Cat
by sofiathoxo
Summary: Damon Salvatore works as a therapist in a mental institution, Ellis Prest, hoping to look for information about the vampire cure that's rumoured to be there. Cat Valentine, an abused teenager, has just been admitted into Ellist Prest, after being diagnosed with Bipolar Hypomania disorder. What will happen when they both meet? Will he help her through her trauma and illness? DELENA
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**__ Hey, look, Sofia's back! So it's maybe been a year since I last uploaded a story, but I've been working on this during the school year, so the first four chapters are typed up. It's quite a weird mix, Cat Valentine and Damon Salvatore in a mental institution together, but hey, don't judge, this is what came to me laughs. So, yeah! Review and follow and favourite and let me know what you guys think. Love y'all._

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Rain splashed at the car's window as it drove down a dark road. A pair of brown, bambi eyes were glued to the raindrops, seeing which one would get to the bottom of the window first. So distracted was the girl, that she didn't even notice that the car had stopped.

"Get out of the car, Cat," a pretty woman, with big brown eyes said from the front seat of the car, examining herself in the rearview mirror, touching up her lipgloss, before opening the door, standing up and slamming it shut behind her.

Timidly, Cat opened her own door and stepped outside, closing it softly behind her as she took in the building in front of her.

The mental institution.

She had been diagnosed with bipolar hypomania disorder a few weeks ago and now she was being sent to Ellis Prest, a mental rehabilitation centre where they promised to take care of little Cat Valentine. Not that her parents really cared how they'd treat her.

She hadn't realised how long she had been glued to the spot until her dad kneed her behind her own knees and she stumbled and nearly fell onto the ground. "Sorry, daddy," she whispered, walking up to the gates of the huge building where she spotted a nurse at the entrance.

As they got nearer, the gates opened and the nurse approached them.

"Welcome to Ellis Prest, I take it you're Ms. Cat Valentine?" The nurse said to the red head, who smiled her childish smile and giggled.

"Yeah, I'm Cat." She replied, resting her chin on the stuffed giraffe she had in her arms.

Another doctor had come and had taken her parents away to sign some papers, so she whispered away to her stuffed toy until they were done.

As her parents approached, she held onto her Mr. Purple tightly. Even though she was seventeen, she was still very afraid of her parents. "Behave," her father growled. "We're spending enough in this place without you not even appreciating it," he told her and her mom pinched her cheek with her pointy nails, which made Cat wince slightly and lower her eyes. "I'll miss you, doll," she said, words dripping in sarcasm but Cat believed every one. "You too, mummy,"she said before a dark skinned nurse with black hair and brown eyes called her.

"Ms. Catarina Valentine? This way please," she said and Cat skipped behind. "It's Cat," she corrected and the nurse jotted it down.

"I'm the head nurse - Val," she introduced herself. "I'll give you a tour of the place," she said and Cat nodded and giggled.

"I love tours of places!" She said enthusiastically.

The nurse nodded, not quite sure what to say before taking the small girl around the place. "And this is the common room," she said, quite a lot of patients were there.

"Would you like to see your room?" She asked and Cat nodded excitedly. "Oh yes please!" She squealed but as they walked down the hall, she crashed into someone and went flying down onto the ground due to her petite nature. "Sorry," she said and looked up to see a very handsome man with black hair and blue eyes and an annoyed expression. "Watch it," he growled and then because the nurse was there, he threw in a sarcastic smile, setting the girl up on her feet and then leaving.

"That was Dr. Damon Salvatore," she said and then carried on to Cat's room. "This is it, you share it with a girl called Lisa," she said and opened the door.

Inside was a very pretty girl, in her early twenties with a strong jaw and bright eyes, who threw the cigarette she had been smoking out the window, but Val saw.

"Cat, this is Lisa, Lisa this is Cat. Lisa you know better than to smoke, come find me later." Val said and Lisa scowled, lowering her eyes to the ground.

"Fuck off," she whispered to Val and Cat flinched and held on to her toy tighter. She didn't like swear words, not one bit. Lisa turned around and nodded her head in Cat's direction, which was more than enough for her to feel welcome.

"I'm Cat, nice to meet you! We're going to be the bestest roommates in the wholest widest world and I have red hair and like to draw and sing," she said enthusiastically and Lisa cracked a smile.

"You're strange kid, it's nice. Lisa," she introduced herself and then Val turned to Cat. "You have to have a physical before settling in, Cat, and then you can come back here and unpack, I'm sure Lisa will help you when she comes back from her little chat with me.

Cat frowned a little and flinched, shaking her head a bit, confused. Her brothers had assured her the nurses and everyone were nice here yet... did Val insinuate she was going to hurt Lisa?

"W-whaty?" She asked nervously but Val was already on her way to the doctor's wing, dragging Cat along behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

After the particulary painful and humiliating physical, Cat was in the common room when Damon came in and she skipped up to him.

"More residents to attempt to get better. I love my job, spending the day with people who hate me." He scoffed, taking a swig from the bottle he had in his hand.

"I... I don't know who you are but I'm sure I don't hate you." She said timidly, tugging at the sleeve on her sweatshirt and playing with the lose strands.

"Oh you're one of those warm and fuzzy types? Fantastic. Welcome to the pit of despair also known as Ellis Prest Rehab Centre," he said, words coated in irony, clearly impatient, sitting down on the couch.

Cat was confused. She wasn't exactly sure what Damon was saying so she shrugged. "I suppose I am warm? It is quite hot outside. Thank you! I'm Cat, hi." she said, a smile on her face as she sat down on a chair and swung her legs.

Damon scoffed. "You were named after an animal. I guess my suspicions were correct, your parents definitely didn't love you. Let me guess, are you an only child or first born?" he asked, half smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

It took Cat a few moments to register what he was saying and when she finally did, she opened her mouth indignantly. "I'm an only child. And my mummy does care about me!" She said and then thought of it better so she murmured a quick "sometimes" after her sentence.

"I bet your _mummy_ loves you when you're asleep or away from home. I bet you have red hair to draw people in to be your friend? You need to have something to override that annoying personality after all."

Cat was shocked at what the man before her was saying, she jumped up and her chair got knocked backwards. "She loves me when she's had her special smoking stuff, see? Not when I'm asleep! You don't know anything! And daddy picked out the colour because he said I looked like Ariel," she huffed, not adding the part of choosing the color to hide the blood seeping up from her scalp as a result of banging her head repeatedly against something.

"I'm not annoying," she said and then with great effort, she looked at him and stuck her tongue out. "You are," she said, her voice low, almost afraid of her own words or the trouble they'd get her in, so she took a step back and bit the inside of her cheek.

Damon was having too much fun to leave the poor girl alone yet so he prodded and poked further. "Your mother has to get high to tolerate you. Your father made you look like a cartoon character. Ariel left her home for good and said goodbye to her father, getting the irony here?" he taunted.

Cat's brain was pounding from thinking so much, her heart was beating hard against her chest from being so angry and yet she didn't understand what he meant with anything and it frustrated her. "What... what irony? I'm confused, you're making my head hurt! I don't like you."

Damon was getting annoyed by this now so he sighed, uncrossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees. "Let me dumb it down for you," and as Cat started to protest, he held up a finger to silence her. "You aren't missed by anyone, including your parents." He hissed.

Cat wasn't sure if this guy knew about her past or if he was telling the truth but it was hurting her too much to try and think it through. "That's not nice at all! They do miss me! My daddy used to always visit me when I was locked in the basement and now he has no one to visit so he definetly misses me now! See? Ha!" She said, triumphant but Damon seemed un phased. "Your daddy hates you. I can tell in my professional opinion that it would be impossible for him to like someone like you."

This was too much for Cat and maybe Damon noticed because he took a swig from his drink, feeling kind of guilty as Cat's lower lip trembled and tears started spilling down her cheeks. "You don't know anything," she said softly, crying, before she dashed out of the room and went to her own room. When she got there, she grabbed her purple giraffe and held it tight, burying her head into it's fur, fighting off the voices and images that were going through her head due to past abuse. The red head climbed into her bed and brought her knees up to her chest. "I'm not home, I'm not home," she kept whispering into her toy until she managed to calm down. How dare that doctor judge her and her relationships. How dare him.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: My loves it's been quite a long time, I'm sorry! But I'm here now and I promise you all I have the next couple chapters written out, I just need to find the time to post them and such. Hope you enjoy this one and please review, favorite, follow, all that jazz._**

Cat had been at the place for two weeks now and was all settled in. She had made quite a few friends. She and Lisa got on very well even though they didn't know eachother much. Cat didn't know about Lisa self harming while Cat was out and Lisa didn't know about Cat not sleeping at all and crying during her nightmares. She hadn't talked to or seen Damon ever since they're conversation last time, he didn't even come to a barbecue that was organised by some nurses on one of the bank holidays. She was being told by everyone that Damon Salvatore was rude, and just downright mean and so far, the little red head was believing them.

Cat was in the common room, sprawled on the floor, crayon in hand, coloring in a picture when she felt someone trip over her legs and she yelped in pain.  
"Sorry, God, ow," Damon complained and Cat could have sworn his eyes flashed red.  
"Sorry," she mumbled as she sat up and rubbed at her leg, she was a tiny thing and to have a full grown man trip over her legs, it hurt. She brought her knee up to her chest and then her eyes flickered over to the doctor. "You didn't come to the barbecue," she said softly, looking down at the floor.  
Damon sat down on the couch and shrugged nonchalantly. "I didn't miss the company, only the food," he said, picking up one of Cat's crayons, rolling it between his fingers, frowning a bit, wondering why a seventeen year old girl was coloring a tiger purple with some crayons.  
Cat crossed her legs and gently rested her arms on them, a smile on her face. She was very naive. "Oh! Well, you could hang out with me and I can get you some food! I'm great company, promise."  
Damon shrugged without paying much attention to the conversation. "I'm a therapist so I suppose if you wanted to come to talk to me about any 'issues' then that would be fine. Good food is always welcome," he added with a bit of a smile but quickly covered it up with a smirk.  
Cat's eyes widened a bit. "You're a therapist?" She asked, surprised. "I thought you were just a doctor. I... I wouldn't know what to say," she said, biting her bottom lip with a small frown, twirling her red hair between her fingers. "I keep candy in my bra if you'd like some?" She offered with a smile.  
Damon rolled his eyes slightly. "Yes, I am a therapist. You'd talk about any problems or concerns you may have, for example, why do you think you're in this rehab centre?" He asked and then his eyes flickered to Cat's tiny chest before looking away. He didn't want to look at her chest, it didn't sit well with him, not only because he had a girlfriend but because this girl was a little kid. "No thanks and don't go around offering either, wouldn't want to anyone to get the wrong idea." He said firmly, kind of surprised at himself that he even cared what idea other people would get of the girl, and then waited for Cat's answer, crossing one leg over the other.  
Cat nodded softly, taking a gum drop from her bra and popping it in her mouth, rolling it around over her tongue as she thought.  
"Okay... I'm here because someone told mummy and daddy they should send me here and they didn't want to look 'suspicious'," she explained, air quotes around the last word. "But I think I'm here because my brain goes from happy to sad to angry very quickly and it makes my head hurt." She said.  
The first sentence immediately caught Damon's attention. "Suspicious about what, dear?" He asked and it was in such a soft tone that it stunned even himself. He shook his head slightly. "I can work with you and give you some breathing calming techniques for when you get angry," he said but Cat wasn't listening. She had nearly slipped up about her parents and her heart was thumping uncomfortably. "I- Val's calling me, I don't want to get into trouble," she said nervously. This was instantly picked up by Damon, who could hear her racing heart, could see how her face was pale yet her cheeks had flushed red. "Hold u-" he started but Cat mumbled a quick goodbye and dashed out the room. What would her parents think if they found out she nearly spilled the beans? Running down the corridor, avoiding patients and nurses, she finally got to her room, practically ripping the door open and then slamming it behind her. She threw herself onto her bed when she reached it, holding on to her toy and whispering to it. After she had calmed down, Cat yawned a bit, she hadn't slept at all that night and she was tired but she didn't want to fall asleep so she climbed out of bed and lay on the ground, looking up at the ceiling, which looked horribly plain. Maybe she should stick some glow in the dark stickers to it? Just then, Lisa came in, fag in her mouth and Cat rolled on the floor so that she was in front of her feet. "Lisa," she giggled. "You're going to get caught again," she said and Lisa crouched down and blew in her face, which made her cough and pout. "I won't get caught and if I do, I don't care," she said and then lay down next to Cat.  
"How's life treating ya, Red?" She asked softly, inhaling the cigarette.  
Cat shrugged a bit, laying on her back. How was life treating her? Well, for one, she was laying down on the floor of a rehabilitation centre with hair smelling of tobacco because of Lisa and she was dead tired because she couldn't sleep since she had horrid nightmares. She decided not to answer, since Lisa didn't seem to be wanting an answer, she had picked up one of Cat's drawings and was examining it. "Same here, kid." The girl said with a small chuckle, sighing. "At least it feels as though life stops in here, you know?" she said, turning to look at the red head who seemed to be concentrating, trying to understand. "Yeah, I think so," she said softly and then turned to look at Lisa with a worried expression. "Lisa, when we both get out of here… will we still see eachother and be friends and all?" she asked nervously, nibbling on her bottom lip.

"Let's focus on getting out of here first, Red."


End file.
